‘As seen on TikTok’ is the new ‘As seen on TV’

A table displays signs with #BookTok, at a Barnes and Noble in Scottsdale, Arizona. TikTok, an app best known for dancing videos with one billion users worldwide, has also become a shopping phenomenon. National chains are setting up TikTok sections. — AP

NEW YORK: Near the Twizzlers and Sour Patch Kids at It’Sugar are random items – fidget toys, fruit-shaped soft jelly candies – that earned a spot on the candy store’s shelves because they went viral on TikTok.

A flood of videos last year showed people biting into the fruit gummies’ plastic casing, squirting artificially-coloured jelly from their mouths. Store staffers urged the company to stock up, and the gummies did so well that It’Sugar decided to make TikTok part of its sales strategy. The chain now has signs with the app’s logo in stores, and goods from TikTok make up 5% to 10% of weekly sales.